Barrel



June 24, 1930. J. R. (:05 1,767,051

BARREL iled Feb. 18, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 J. R. COE

. June 24, 1930.

BARREL iled Feb. 18, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a gma'ntoz attozvwqs mm Nm Patented June 24, 1930 UNHTED STATES PATENT QFFECE JAMES R. (10E, OF WATER-BURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOB '10 THE AMERICAN BRASS COMPANY, OF WATEEBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT BARREL- Application filed February 18, 1927.

This invention relates to barrels, and particularly to a barrel for heavy duty in factories manufacturing metal articles for holding any carrying the scrap and other pieces of metal in the process of manufacturing. For example, in brass mills or similar mills articles are made from alarge number of different alloys, each alloy involving different proportions of metals and different metals, and as the scrap is saved and used it is important to keep the scrap for each metal and each alloy separate, and it is, therefore, necessary to have about the mill in various locations where scrap is produced or used a 5 large number of barrels to hold this scrap separate and also to carry it to different departments or locations in the mill where it is to be processed. These barrels are subjected to very severe handling and it has 9 been diliicult to make a barrel which would stand up any length of time under this use. It will be obvious that if the carrying means for the barrel should fail during transport-ation serious damage may result in that various types of alloys may become mixed and also workmen may be seriously injured.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to produce a barrel structure which is sufficiently strong to stand this rough usage.

It is also an object of the invention to construct a barrel which can be more easily and efficiently handled about the mill and trans ported from one department to another.

\Vith the foregoing and other objects in view, I have devised a construction of barrel, the preferred form of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification. In these drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a barrel constructed according to my invention with the lower end or head in section to show the strengthening means. 7

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the barrel looking from the right of Fig. 1, and also showing how the barrel may be transported on different types of trucks.

Fig. 3 is a bottom end view of this barrel.

Fig. 4 shows the method of cutting and the Serial No. 168,208.

shape of the blanks from which improved carrying hooks are made.

Fig. 5 is a front view of this hook re moved from the barrel.

Fig. 6 is a lower end view of the hook.

' Fig. 7 is a side elevation of this hook.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section substantially on line 8-8 of Fig. 7. I

Fig. 9 shows a plurality of these barrels mounted in dumping position over a storage bin or similar device and indicating how a plurality of these barrels may be handled simultaneously.

r Fig. 10 is an end View of this arrangement.

Fig. 11 is a similar view showing how a plurality of the barrels may be set up on their lower ends on afloor or platform for simultaneous handling.

Fig. 12 is a section through an improved trunnion for this barrel, and

Fig. 13 is an end view thereof.

The barrel, as shown in Fig. 1, comprises a cylindrical body 14, usually of sheet metal, and closed at its lower end by a head 15 which usually has a flange 16 riveted to the body, and the flange or the end of the body may be folded upon itself to provide further stiffening means if found desirable. The top edge of the body is usually folded upon itself one or more timcs to form a strengthening flange 17. This barrel and the head are usually made of relatively heavy sheet metal and it'is desirable to strengthen the lower head so that it. will not readily bend out of shape and also so that it will be able to hold the heavy weights carried. It is still further desirable to have the lower head so shaped that the barrel may be easily picked up by the standard stevedore truck for transporting it from place to place. At the present time a common form is to dish the central portion of the bottom of the barrel to provide a circular downwardly extendingcentral bulge in this lower end. This raises the end portion of the barrel from the floor for easy insertion of the front plate of the truck, but it greatly reduces the bearing surface of the barrel on the .1901: so that it is much more easlly tipped over and adds very little strengthening effect to the barrel head. Furthermore, the round curved surface of this bulge is liable to cause the barrel to turn when engaging the truck plate.

I have provided improved strengthening means for the lower barrel head which overcomes these difficulties and has a greater strengthening and stiffening effect than the former constructions. It stiffens the plain surface of the head substantially throughout its entire width, gives a better and more stable support for the barrel and it also facilitates the loading of the barrel onto the stevedore truck. This means comprises a downwardly extending rib 18 which is channel shaped or substantially lU-shaped in cross section as shown, and it is formed by pressing the wall of the head downwardly. It is also preferred that this rib shall be substantially triangular in outline, as shown in Fig. 3, but it may, of course, have other polygonal shapes if desired. The triangular shape, however, gives more room between the straight side edges 19 of the rim and the periphery of the head, as will be apparent from Fig. 3, for insertion of the front plate 20 of a standard type of stevedore truck 21, and the straight edge of the rib forms a support on the truck plate which will not allow the barrel to readily turn while being carried. Furthermore, with this shape of rib it may be extended entirely across the head to substantially the periphery thereof and so strengthen the entire head and still leave plenty of room for insertion of the plate of the truck. This type of strengthening also provides plenty of bearing surface to pre vent easy over turning of the barrel.

Also in the ordinary types of barrel the cast iron trunnions ordinarily used are easily broken causing considerable trouble and damage. I have provided an improved type of trunnion shown in detail in Figs. 12 and 13. This trunnion is made of a single piece of heavy sheet metal, such as boiler iron, and it is first made in a rectangular blank and then the central portion is pressed and drawn laterally to form a tubular bearing portion 22 as shown in dotted lines Fig. 12 leaving a base plate portion 23 extending transverse the axis of this bearing which may be provided with openings 24 for bolts or rivets 25 to fasten the trunnion to the side of the barrel. It is also preferred to upset the free end of the tubular portion somewhat to provide a stop rib 26 to prevent the trunnion sliding out of its bearing. The base portion 23 may also be curved somewhat to correspond with the curvature of the body of the barrel. Each barrel is provided with a pair of these trunnions located on diametrically opposite sides thereof and somewhat above the horizontal center line of the barrel so that when filled they will tend to stand in the upright position. The barrels may also be easily transported by means of a trunnion truck of any standard type indicated at 27 to the left of Fig. 2.

These trucks are ordinarily used for trans porting the barrels short distances or carry ing them to a common station where a number of barrels may be transported by a special conveyor means to the storage room or any other desirable location. For this purpose the barrels are each provided with a pair of lifting hooks 28, and these hooks are arranged on diametrically opposite sides of the barrel adjacent the top thereof and in a plane at substantially right angles to the plane of the trunnions so that when a number of barrels are brought to the collecting station by the trucks they are set up in alignment as indicated in Fig. 11. The trunnions of adjacent barrels cooperate to space them at the proper distance apart and indicate the proper arrangement of the barrels. This will place each barrel with the lifting hooks 28 in alignment on each side of the row and properly spaced from each other for simultaneous engagement by the loops or hooks 29 on conveyor tongs 80. These tongs are not shown in detail in this application as they are of the construction shown in my copending application Serial No. 169,209 filed of even date herewith. elude two simultaneously operated sets of loops or hooks 29 one on each side adapted to simultaneously hook under the rows of hooks on the opposite sides of a line of barrels, and they are moved outwardly and inwardly from and to engagement with the hooks by means of suitable mechanism. Thus the entire line of barrels, as shown in Fig. 11, may be engaged simultaneously by the hooks or loops of the tongs and carried in one operation to a storage bin or other location desired. Figs 9 and 10 show a storage bin 31 having suitable bearings 32 on suitable supports, as cross beams 33, properly spaced so that the entire line of barrels may be lowered with the trunnions seated in these bearings by the conveyor tongs, as indicated in Fig. 9. Then after the barrels are clumped they may be again simultaneously lifted by these tongs and carried back to their original position for another supply.

Great difiiculty has been experienced in providing hooks which would be reliable to withstand the rough usage and not break or separate from the barrel during the carrying operation, thus spilling the contents of the barrel and perhaps injuring the workmen. I have produced a new form of hook which is very strong and which may be manufactured at comparatively low cost. The construction of this hook is shown in detail in Figs. at to 8. It is formed from a blank 34 cut from a strip of sheet metal of the proper thickness, usually from a strip These tongs 1nof boiler iron. The blanks are cut substantially to the shape shown in Fig. 4- without waste of material. They are formed on their lower edge with an extension 35 providing a central tongue and it will be apparent that in cutting this tongue a similarly shaped notch 36 will be formed on the opposite side edge of the blank. The sides 37 are preferably inclined downwardly, as shown in Fig. 5, although notnecessarily so and the amount of inclination may be varied as is found desirable. In forming the hook the opposite side portions of the blank are bent.

backwardly or folded upon themselves along the vertical central line of the tongue, as shown at 38, to form a hook 39, and then the sides 37 are bent laterally outwardly in opposite directions, as shown at 40, at a suitable distance back from the fold 38. The inclined sides of the tongue and the curve at the top thereof forms by this operation a hook opening downwardly, as shown in Fig. 7, and the edges of the metal may be bent inwardly, as shown at 41, to form a more or less rounded surface at the bottom of this hook to give a better bearing on the carrying elements. The sides 37 are curved to fit the side wall of the barrel and are provided with openings 42 for rivets or bolts 43 for securely fastening the hooks to the barrel. This makes a very reliable construction of hook which is not easily broken. in

use and which may be firmly and securely attached to the barrel.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim is:

1. A barrel having a body, a sheet metal head or closure at its lower end having a triangularly shaped strengthening rib struck downwardly from the surface of said head and below the normal plane of said head, with its three corners located near the outer periphery of the head, and said rib being substantially U-shape in cross section.

2. A barrel provided with a strengthening rib for the bottom end thereof substantially U-shape in cross section extending downwardly from the surface of said end below the normal plane of said end to raise the portion about the rib above a floor surface, said rib being polygonal in outline with substantially straight sides spaced from the periphery of the head and the corners between adjacent sides located near the periphery of the heat.

3. A barrel having a sheet metal lower end provided with a strengthening rib integral therewith and formed from the metal of said end, said rib being trough shaped in cross section with the closed side down and below the normal plane of said end to form a support on. which the barrel may rest, said rib being polygon-a1 in outline with the straight sides spaced from the periphery of said end and with the corners between adjacent sides located adjacent the periphery of said end.

4. A barrel having a sheet metal lower end provided with a downwardly extending strengthening portion below the normal plane of said end pressed from the metal of said end and substantially polygonal in outline to provide against straight sides, said sides being spaced inwardly from the periphery of said end to limit the extent of insertion of the nose plate of a stevedore truck and provide a substantially straight surface to engage the free edge thereof.

5. A barrel having a body, a head or closure at its lower end, and a triangularly shaped strengthening rib at the under side of said head extending downwardly therefrom to space the portion of the head about it from the floor surface, the corners of said rib being located adjacent the periphery of the head to provide a stable support for the barrel.

In testimony where of'I aifiX my signature.

JAMES R. COE. 

